My daughter texted mom, I need to tell you something, I thought youd want someone to look after you, and I sat in the visitor center at Fort Bragg next to my grandson in his uniform and understood that Denise, my own daughter, had set Travis loose on my condo, and that the doctors letter he waved at my HOA was forged, because I have not seen my doctor in six months and I do the New York Times crossword in pen.
The Myrtle Beach police went to the HOA office at Ocean Pines. They confirmed from the deed that I am the sole owner, that I bought the condo with my late husbands IRA in my name alone, and that I have no diagnosis of dementia and no caretaker, because I do not need one.
My nephew Travis forged a letter with my doctors name on it claiming I had early dementia, so he could move into my condo as my live-in caretaker and get his hands on my home, and my daughter Denise, meaning to help, had told him where I lived and encouraged the whole idea, not understanding she was handing my house to a man who has been taking money since my sister was alive.
For thirty years, whenever Travis got into trouble, my sister called me and I paid. My sister is gone, and Travis kept calling, and this time he did not ask, he forged a doctor and told a building full of my neighbors that my mind was going.
My mind is fine. The police found the letter was fraudulent, and forging a physicians name to seize an elderly womans home is not a family favor, it is elder fraud, and it is with the authorities now.
Travis and his girlfriend and their TV did not get in. Donna at the HOA, bless her, never gave him a key. I flew home, re-keyed nothing because he never had a key, but I put the HOA on notice in writing that no caretaker exists and none is authorized, and I sent my real doctor a copy of the forged letter so he knew his name had been used.
My daughter and I are going to have a long talk. She was wrong, badly wrong, but she is not Travis, and I can tell the difference between a daughter who underestimated her mother and a nephew who forged a diagnosis of her. One of them I will forgive. The other one I will see in a courtroom.
He says you have early dementia, Donna told me. I do the crossword in pen, Donna. In pen. The condo is mine, my mind is mine, and the only person deciding who looks after me is me.